This invention is directed to high-speed ships having a water displacement hull, and more particularly to a ship of this type which is adapted to easily increase its speed by reducing the wave-making drag caused by the bow during navigation this drag being what interferes most seriously with the speed capabilities of the ship.
Generally ships are divided largely into the water displacement type (those whose entire weight is supported by the buoyancy thereof during navigation) and the surface hull type (high-speed ships whose entire weight is supported by the lift resulting from the shape of the ship bottom and also from the ship's buoyancy). To increase the speed of navigation, the usual practice is to increase the thrust acting on the ship more particularly, the concept of using horsepower, or modifying the shape of the hull as by tapering the bow toward its front end so as to reduce the wave-making drag of the bow during the advance of the ship are used to add thrust to the ship.
However, engines of increased horsepower are large-sized, require a greater equipment cost, entail a higher fuel consumption and are generally less economical with no reduction in drag being achieved. Thus an increase in horsepower does not lead to a corresponding increase in speed while resulting in increased engine noise or vibration.
Improvements in the shape of the hull, such as the modification of the bow to a tapered form as described above, are the usual solutions and no attempts have been made to greatly modify the basic shape of the ship hull which is already known. With the drag of the bow still remaining as high with the original hull shape, the improvements, if made, fail to achieve any noticeable increase in the navigational speed.